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Bobby Ryan's Twitter feed Friday afternoon was supposed to portray his excitement over becoming a Senator.

"Ottawa, I'm coming in hot," he colourfully declared.

Of course, the temperature will already be at record highs by the time the former No. 2 pick (behind Sidney Crosby) in 2005 gets here as the dramatic departure of Daniel Alfredsson -- the greatest and most popular athlete the city has ever known -- has left Senators fans steaming.

The question is, who are the customers blaming for the devastating turn of events that puts the former captain in Red Wings rouge?

Most of their ire should be directed at No. 11 himself.

Formerly commended for his fierce loyalty to the organization that drafted him two decades ago, Alfredsson admitted he was "selfish" to take an offer the Senators would have easily matched, because he wanted a better chance to win the Stanley Cup.

Maybe going to Detroit gives him that -- and maybe it does not. In this NHL cap era, there are no guarantees. Instead, he ruins his pristine reputation as a "lifer" with one team and all that he can be assured is he'll get to keep his jersey number. No Red Wing wears 11 and -- while 9, 10 and 12 are among those hanging from the Joe Louis Arena rafters -- it is not retired, either.

Yes, Alfredsson earns the right to work where he wants after all he has done in Ottawa. But his timing for making this decision sucks. The Flames traded Jarome Iginla to Pittsburgh for a first-round pick and two college prospects at the deadline. It stands to figure Alfredsson would have fetched the Senators a similar return.

Instead, they get zip for a guy that has made about $70 million from the organization -- granted while giving plenty back -- in the last 18 years. It would have even been easier to stomach had Alfredsson not waited until late Thursday night to let the Senators know of his plans.

"He had no obligation to tell me anything," said GM Bryan Murray.

"The only thing is if J.P. (Barry, Alfredsson's agent) would have told me two or three days ago this was a very strong possibility, I could have maybe set my target on an additional player (Friday), which I didn't do. We ended up getting two players which we're very happy about getting. but losing Alfie is a big blow."

Don't believe any theories about money being a factor. The Senators had to know what losing Alfredsson could mean to them at the box office.

And don't blame Murray for assuming that Alfredsson would be returning to the nation's capital.

Absolutely nobody saw this coming.

Murray, meanwhile, was fully aware of the damage control that needed to be done afterwards.

Like a lawyer defending his client (and yes, he certainly did have owner Eugene Melnyk's back) Murray brought notes with him to the stand (podium) at his Canadian Tire Centre press conference.

"I can give you a timeline, to a degree," he said of the conversations that went on with the Alfredsson camp. "I wrote it out so I would have the right dates here."

Murray even offered to trade Alfredsson to the team of his choice next December or January, if the Senators didn't look like they were going to take a run at the Cup and he wanted to go to contender.

But Alfredsson wanted a more comfortable landing, to be with his next team from the start of the season. Heaven forbid him having to go through some awkwardness just to give the Senators a few valuable assets.

Meanwhile, Murray has had a front-row seat for this show before.

When he was GM in Anaheim, his star, Paul Kariya, demanded $10 million from him then wound up signing for $1.2 million with Colorado. Kariya's motive for becoming an Avalanche was to play with Teemu Selanne. That didn't work out so well, did it.

Nobody is wishing ill will on Alfredsson now, but if I'm the Senators I may be less inclined to offer him a cushy front office job after he retires.

At the very least, I don't go out of my way to create one for him, whereas that would have been the case before all this went down.

The thing is, Alfredsson might have had a better chance to win a Cup in Ottawa than Detroit, with Ryan as a teammate here.

He knew Murray was poised to make that trade. Yet the captain still decided to jump ship, tarnishing his legacy in the process.

Bobby Ryan's Twitter feed Friday afternoon was supposed to portray his excitement over becoming a Senator.

"Ottawa, I'm coming in hot," he colourfully declared.

Of course, the temperature will already be at record highs by the time the former No. 2 pick (behind Sidney Crosby) in 2005 gets here as the dramatic departure of Daniel Alfredsson -- the greatest and most popular athlete the city has ever known -- has left Senators fans steaming.

The question is, who are the customers blaming for the devastating turn of events that puts the former captain in Red Wings rouge?

Most of their ire should be directed at No. 11 himself.

Formerly commended for his fierce loyalty to the organization that drafted him two decades ago, Alfredsson admitted he was "selfish" to take an offer the Senators would have easily matched, because he wanted a better chance to win the Stanley Cup.